Memoirs of a Past Life  Rewrite
by tazzydan
Summary: A re-write of my old fic. Wanted to continue it and realized just how horrible at writing I was at 14. So here it goes...MWPP. Pre-OOTP. My version of why Peter turned to the "dark side".
1. Chapter 1

Memoirs of a Past Life

Tahlia Stewart

Chapter 1:

Lily Evans approached the Hogwarts Express with mixed feelings. She was nervous about her new life as a wizard, which wasn't like her. Usually, she loved new things, no matter what, but it had never occurred to her that she could be something, or someone, so unique. She ran her right hand through her long, wavy auburn hair, which she had neglected to cut before the new school term and it now reached past her shoulder blades and was nearing her waist. Glancing around the platform nine and three-quarters, Lily saw around one hundred students rushing around, packing their trunks into the luggage carriage, saying goodbye to their loved ones and meeting up with friends.

"So much for being unique..." Lily muttered under her breath, letting her hand drop from her hair to her side dejectedly. She scrunched up her freckled flecked nose and sighed, bracing herself to pick up her oversized trunk and drag it towards the luggage carriages.

"Here, let me help you with that." A voice said from behind her. Lily turned to face a young boy with thick black hair which ran to his chin. His black eyes were almost laughing at her, matching the lopsided grin on his eager face. Lily gestured to her trunk, acquiescent to his suggestion.

"Thank you that would be nice. I still don't know how I made it through the barrier with it." She said with a laugh. The boy picked up the trunk with ease and wiggled his eyebrows at her with a grin. She smiled in return.

"No worries." He said. "I'm Sirius Black. What's your name?" He enquired, still grinning. Lily looked up at his warm face, bit her bottom lip and replied.

"I'm Lily Evans. It's nice to meet you Sirius. I don't know anyone else here." She said shyly. He nodded in recognition.

"Ah, so you're a muggle-born then?" He asked and Lily looked blank. He laughed lightly. "I have much to teach you, grasshopper." He said mockingly. Lily didn't know what to say to this, so she laughed politely. "Here, let's go put this in the carriage and then find a seat, I got some people for you to meet." Lily nodded.

Minutes later, Sirius had her hand and was leading her down the main passageway of the train, his strides were confident and he greeted several people with a nod as they made their way to the last compartment on the right. When they were standing outside the door, he held it open for her and gestured for her to enter.

"Ladies first..." Sirius said with a grin and a wiggle of his eyebrows. Lily entered the compartment to find another three boys sitting inside. A boy with dirty blonde hair and a side-swept fringe was perched on the seat to her left, his elbow resting on his knee and his piercing ice-blue eyes sneering at another boy. The boy he was sneering at wore square-rimmed glasses in front of his brown eyes, his hair was unbelievably messy, with strands sticking up in all directions and he was sitting on the chair with his legs crossed, leaning back against the head rest. The last boy was in the process of rolling his startling yellow eyes when Lily entered. His light brown hair was standing on end, almost as if he had gelled it spiked, but Lily could see that he hadn't. He had a few freckled across his nose, which looked as if it may have been broken a few times previously and his lips were pursed in a lopsided grin.

Upon realising that Lily had entered the room, the blonde boy sat up straight, his leg which had previously been resting on the chair, shot to the floor. The boy with glasses sat up straight, lowered his legs to the floor as well and the boy with the startling yellow eyes stood to shake her hand.

"Hi, I'm Remus Lupin, what's your name?" He asked sincerely. Lily smiled.

"I'm Lily Evans." She replied, still smiling. Remus returned to his seat and the boy with glasses held out his hand, standing briefly.

"I'm James Potter, nice to meet you." He said, his eyes were wide, almost like a deer in headlights. Lily blushed. Suddenly the blonde boy cleared his throat, stood and held out his hand.

"I'm Peter Pettigrew." He said with a wiggle of his eyebrows. Lily smiled at him and said hi, taking a seat between James and Peter. Sirius took this chance to enter the room and grinned at the boys and Lily, before taking a seat in between Remus and James. He leant back against the headrest and raised his left arm up to rest behind his head.

Suddenly the door opened and a petite girl with long, curly brown hair, large green eyes and freckled nose stood in the entrance. She appeared to be shy.

"Come in, come in." Peter said with a grin. "The more the merrier. What's your name?" He asked, standing to shake her hand. She held out her hand nervously and replied in a rather quiet voice.

"I'm Kari Haderley." She had an unmistakable Irish lilt to her voice, which sounded almost like she was singing. Remus stood next, running his left hand nervously through his already ruffled hair and offering her his left.

"Remus Lupin, it's nice to meet you." Kari nodded, biting her bottom lip and blushing slightly. The others introduced themselves to her and then she took a seat between Sirius and Remus.

"Are you all first years?" She asked, raising her eyebrows hopefully. Variations of 'yes' chorused through the compartment and she sighed, relieved. "Oh good, I don't know anyone else here so I'm glad I know some people now." She said with a nervous laugh.

"Are you a muggle-born too?" Sirius asked inquisitively. Kari shook her head.

"No. I lived in Ireland, on the Golden Vale to be exact, in Limerick. My parents were aurors for the Irish ministry, they are being transferred to the British one as we speak." Kari explained.

"What is a muggle-born?" Lily asked, tiring of not understanding this term. Kari smiled.

"You must be one then. A muggle-born is nothing bad; it just means that your parents are muggles, non-magic people." She said with a smile and a nod. Lily nodded, glad she finally understood.

Then, the compartment door opened again. This time a girl with a pixie-like face, chin length blonde hair and big bright blue eyes stood in the doorway.

"Is it okay if I sit in here? I was told that there was a bunch of first years in here?" She asked with a wide smile. Sirius' eyes went wide and he seemed to almost stutter. James looked at him with a grin.

"I'm Sirius Black." He introduced himself and the blonde girl took his hand, smiling.

"Rachel Quartz, it's nice to meet you." She said, her eyes fixed on his. One by one, the others introduced themselves and then Rachel took a seat between Sirius and James.

"And then there were seven!" Peter said, grinning. The others laughed. They had barely had a chance to stop laughing when the door swept open again. A girl with glasses stood in the doorway, a grin which seemed to go from ear to ear plastered on her face. She had freckles covering her entire face and dark blue eyes which seemed to encompass the majority of her upper-face. Her hair was a dark blonde mess of spikes in a pixie-cut which made her look almost as if she had been electrocuted.

"Hi!" She exclaimed, taking a seat in between Peter and Lily. "I'm Tina Lynn." She said, still grinning maniacally. Peter looked to be at a loss for words, before he finally recovered, extending his hand to her.

"I'm Peter Pettigrew. This is Lily Evans, James Potter, Rachel Quartz, Sirius Black, Kari Haderley and Remus Lupin." He said, gesturing to each of the others in turn. Tina nodded and leant back in her seat.

"This is exciting, hey? I've been waiting for this for years, to go to Hogwarts, I mean. So how do you all know each other?" She asked.

"We boys have been friends since we were kids. Our parents work for the ministry together. They're aurors." James answered.

"Hey, my parents are aurors too!" Tina exclaimed.

"So are mine..." Rachel said.

"Wait, you're James _Potter_. So your parents are Millicent and Harold Potter, as in the Heads of Ministry Defence Potters?" Tina asked, stunned. James looked modest.

"Yeah, that's them." He muttered.

"Wow. That's pretty impressive." Rachel said.

"Hang on a second...what's an auror? And what is this ministry you keep talking about?" Lily asked, shaking her head. Tina smiled and patted her on the back gently.

"Oh! You're a muggle-born! Yay, we get to educate you!" She exclaimed.

The next few hours were spent 'educating' Lily in the ways of the wizarding world. They covered topics ranging from Quidditch to the Ministry to the four Hogwarts Houses.

"Could students please change into their uniforms and prepare to disembark the Hogwarts Express. We shall be arriving at the Hogsmeade station in approximately half an hour. Thank you." A voice announced, seemingly over a loudspeaker, although, when she looked, Lily couldn't see one anywhere.

"Well, we shall leave you ladies to get changed in peace. Just let us know when you're done and we'll swap." Peter said, standing and heading for the door. Remus stood as well, leaving the compartment. James stood and when he noticed that Sirius was still seated, he grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him out.

Within half an hour, the group were now sitting in the compartment, all in their uniforms, waiting for the train to come to a final halt. Finally, it did and the voice boomed again.

"We are now at Hogsmeade Station. First years please meet at the south end of the platform where Hagrid will be waiting to escort you to the boats. Everyone else, please head towards the carts. Thank you."

"Oh my, gosh, there's going to be boats!" Tina exclaimed, grasping Lily's hand in her excitement. Lily squeezed Tina's hand in return, grinning at her and then turned to Kari, grasping her hand, who in turn grabbed Rachel's.

"This is so exciting! Mum told me that there was a special way to get to Hogwarts in first year, but this is _way _cool!" Rachel cried.

"Firs' years, come this way!" A huge, hairy man called over the swarms of students. He was gesturing towards a row of little boats, lined up in the lake alongside the southern edge of the platform. "Four only per boat, please!" He shouted. Students started to climb into the boats and the eight new-found friends glanced at each other.

"Should girls go in one and boys in another?" Kari asked, grinning. Then the four girls clambered into a boat and the four boys boarded the one next to it. No sooner had they all seated inside, the boat took off at a reasonable speed, as if by magic! Lily mentally slapped herself; of course it was by magic!

"Quick girls, they're gaining on us!" Tina shouted, putting her hands into the water to paddle. The boys were in a boat, not one meter behind them. Lily and Rachel, who were sitting at the back of the boat, leaned over the back to paddle as well. Kari sat in the middle, unable to reach the water from her seat, watching on with a bemused expression on her face. Realising what the girls were doing, the boys, except for James, who was in the same predicament as Kari, leaned over the edges of the boat to paddle as well, in order to catch up to the girls. When they were close enough, Sirius reached forward from his place at the nose of the boat and grabbed hold of the back of the girls' boat.

"Unhand us, foes!" Rachel shrieked and started slapping at Sirius' hands, to no avail. Lily started swiping at his hands as well and soon enough, Sirius grabbed their hands in each of his, with a satisfied grin.

"Ok, I unhanded you. Now what do you propose?" He asked with a lopsided grin. The next few seconds seemed to happen very slowly to Kari and James, who were mere bystanders in the whole fiasco, but no matter how they tried, neither could get their warnings out fast enough.

"Guys, let g-!" James managed to get out.

"Girls, sit dow-!" Kari blurted before both boats tipped their contents into the freezing depths of the lake.

Some of the other first years, who had noticed that several of their classmates were now in the water, were starting to panic and were shouting at Hagrid to do something. He just smiled.

"The squid'll get them." He cried back to the nervous first years and sure enough, ten giant tentacles shot through the surface of the water, holding one of the 11 year olds and each of the boats. The tentacles placed them neatly back in the boats, before re-entering the water and shooting back down into the deep. Each of the water-soaked kids, sat, huddled together, shivering.

"That...was...awesome!" Tina exclaimed in between her teeth chattering. The others just laughed.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

The group of first years had been led from the lake-shore to the Great Hall and were now standing nervously, clumped together in the centre aisle of the room. The Great Hall was, by far, the grandest room that Lily had ever been in. The ceiling was made to look like the sky above and there were hundreds of candles floating above the heads of the several hundred students seated at the four long tables below. Each table represented one of the houses. The one to the far right had a banner of a lion in red and gold, Gryffindor. The next one over had a banner in blue and white of a raven, Ravenclaw. The table immediately to the first years' left had a banner of a badger in yellow and black, Hufflepuff and the one on the far left hand side of the room was green and white of a snake, Slytherin. On a stage at the front of the room, sat the professors, also at a long table and in front of them was an old hat on a three-legged stool.

Without warning, the hat lifted its brim and started to sing.

"I've been here from the start,

And know all there is to know.

If you listen to this song,

You'll find where you ought to go.

In Gryffindor there lay the ones

Who remain true to their heart,

Their courage, trust and honour,

Tell this fine house apart.

In Ravenclaw there are witty ones

With knowledge in their heads

If you are smart and studious too

In the blue house you'll find your bed.

The Hufflepuffs show loyalty

To everyone they meet

To have a Hufflepuff for a friend

Is definitely a treat.

Slytherins know their hopes and dreams

And will follow them through and through

They are ambitious and cunning

Just careful or they'll cross you!

So to find out where you belong

Put me on your head

The sooner that you do so

The sooner we can eat and go to bed!"

The hat finished singing and the hall burst into applause.

"So all we have to do is put the hat on and it'll tell us which house we're in?" Lily asked Sirius, who was standing beside her. He nodded and shrugged simultaneously. Lily's eyes grew wide, worried that she would get sorted into a different house to her new friends.

"Abbott, Michael." Professor McGonagall called out from her parchment and a scared first year approached the hat. He put it on his head and took a seat on the stool. It sat there for a moment and then called out his new house.

"Hufflepuff!"

"Abercrombie, Isobel."

"Gryffindor!"

"Adachi, Paul."

"Gryffindor!"

"Andra, Laramie."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Avariella, Regina."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Avedis, Ethan."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Baddock, Simon."

"Slytherin!"

"Barret, Hayley."

"Gryffindor!"

"Black, Sirius." Sirius gulped audibly and the others clapped him on the shoulders, giving him hope. He walked nervously up to the stool and sat on the edge of it, placing the hat on his head, dreading what the hat would say.

"_Love to have fun, very loyal, could be a Hufflepuff, but too many brains. Very ambitious, could be a Slytherin, too much decency. You could be a Ravenclaw, but not really the studious type. The wizarding world is expecting great things from you. Well, I think it will be..._Gryffindor!" Sirius got up off the stool and walked over to the Gryffindor table, throwing a grin over his shoulder to his friends and giving them a thumb up sign to wish them luck.

"Bones, Levity."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Boot, Adrian."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Brocklehurst, Danny."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Brocklehurst, Jaime."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Bulstrode, Jake."

"Slytherin!"

"Chamberlain, Charlotte."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Crabbe, Tristan."

"Slytherin!"

"Crawford, Kathryn."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Davies, Matthew."

"Ravenclaw!"

Desdemona, Narcissa."

"Slytherin!"

"Dmitri, Aria."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Edwards, Phinnea."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Evans, Lily." Now it was Lily's turn to gulp. She walked slowly up to the front of the hall and picked up the hat, taking a seat on the stool. The last thing she saw before her head was engulfed by the hat was her friends smiling at her. Lily could hear the blood pounding through her veins. Suddenly, the hat started whispering to her.

"_I notice that you wish to be in Gryffindor with your friend...hmmm...maybe...you could pass for a Ravenclaw, very intelligent, but too much courage. We are expecting wondrous things from you and your friends. You are definitely made for..._Gryffindor!" Lily stood up and practically ran over to Sirius, who was standing up cheering for her, she engulfed him in a hug before taking a seat next to him. He patted her on the head endearingly.

"Ferguson, Ashalea."

"Gryffindor!"

"Goyle, Varian."

"Slytherin!"

"Haderley, Kari!" Kari eyes widened and she shot a telepathic 'help me' look to James who was standing next to her. She crept up to the stool and gingerly placed it on her head as she sat down on the stool.

"_Great brains, very loyal, very witty, hmmm...another tough one and not surprisingly, you're one of the great ones. I'll think you'll do best in..._Gryffindor!" Kari ran over to Sirius and Lily and hugged them. After they had sat down, Professor McGonagall continued through her list.

"Higman, Asha."

"Slytherin!"

"Kabira, Verena."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Kaden, Jebediah."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Kalil, Adrina."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Kalil, Bryant."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Lawrence, Madison."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Lockhart, Gilderoy."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Longbottom, Frank."

"Gryffindor!"

"Lovegood, Richard."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Lupin, Remus." Remus nodded and walked slowly towards the front of the room. He had barely placed the hat on his head when it started speaking to him.

"_Very intelligent and loyal, however, you are keeping a very big secret from your friends and this is a Slytherin trait. You are very brave and willing to do anything for your friends and it is for this sole reason that you are being put into..._Gryffindor!" Remus grinned, took the hat off and went to sit with Lily, Sirius and Kari.

"Lynn, Tina." Tina grinned widely and ran up to the stool, plonking herself down onto the stool and slammed the hat onto her head. '_Gryffindor, please!' _She thought to herself.

"_Definitely not Slytherin material, a Ravenclaw through and through, but if you want it so badly, I shall put you in..._Gryffindor!" Tina stood, grinning and bowed down very low in front of the entire school, who laughed. Then, she ran over the Lily, Remus, Kari and Sirius to sit with them, all five of them laughing.

"Mada, Deirdre."

"Slytherin!"

"Madley, Joshua."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Malfoy, Lucious."

"Slytherin!"

"Maynard, Zaria."

"Hufflepuff!"

"McDonald, Stuart."

"Gryffindor!"

"McGathy, Francesca."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Nott, Jonas."

"Slytherin!"

"Pallaton, Tate."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Parkinson, Celeste."

"Slytherin!"

"Parvati, Adam."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Pettigrew, Peter." Peter gave James a high five and grinned at Rachel before heading over to the stool. He grinned at everyone briefly before putting the hat on his head.

"_You are definitely not Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff material. The future does not look too handsome for you. Some Slytherin flaws will show later in life, however, no time like the present and for the present you belong in..._Gryffindor!" Peter jumped up and strutted over to his friends at the Gryffindor table to sit with them.

"Potter, James." James left Rachel, giving her a hug and wishing her luck. He walked over to the stool and sat down, placing the hat on his head. It fell down over his eyes.

"_No trouble placing you, another of the great ones..._Gryffindor!" James rose from the stool and placed the hat back in his place. He punched the air with his air and jogged over to the Gryffindor table.

"Pritchard, Alana."

"Slytherin!"

"Quartz, Rachel." Rachel glanced nervously at the Gryffindor table to where all of her friends were sitting. She very much hoped that she would get into Gryffindor with them. She sat tentatively on the stool and pulled the hat down over her eyes.

"_Finally, the last of the great ones, you must go along with the rest into..._Gryffindor!" As she ran over to join her friends, they all stood and cheered for all of them had made it into the same house. Once everyone had taken their seat, Professor McGonagall continued through the last of the list.

"Quirke, Rebecca."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Rivera, Jonathon."

"Gryffindor!"

"Rodriguez, Samantha."

"Gryffindor!"

"Rosenblatt, Lyris."

"Slytherin!"

"Shayne, Chloe."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Snape, Severus."

"Slytherin!"

"Thurston, Shane."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Vatusia, Malloren."

"Slytherin!"

"Virote, Necia."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Waite, Aradia."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Wasaki, Rune."

"Slytherin!"

"Whitby, Bradley."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Zabini, Keith."

"Slytherin!"

"Zeller, Mark."

"Hufflepuff!"

As the final student was seated at the Hufflepuff table, an old man in the centre of the table at the front of the hall stood.

"Welcome back to a new year at Hogwarts and for those who are new, I welcome you! I am the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. I won't keep you long, I know you must all be famished. I just have a few notices first. Firstly, the Forbidden Forest is, surprisingly, forbidden. Secondly, an updated list of forbidden items has been posted on Mr Filch's office door. Lastly, as always, no magic in the corridors, please. Thank you and I hope you all enjoy the feast." He resumed his seat and clapped his hands together. As he did so, the tables each filled with dishes of food. Every type of food you could imagine appeared before the students.

"They must've known that you were coming Sirius!" Remus joked, reaching for a chicken leg. Sirius, however, couldn't reply. He already had a mouthful of mashed potatoes.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

After dinner was over, Professor Dumbledore stood up again and clapped. All of the dishes disappeared.

"I hope you all enjoyed your meal and I'm glad to have you all with us. Will the fifth year prefects please direct the first years and any other new students to their dormitories? I bid everyone goodnight." He then departed through a door to the left in front of the Slytherin table.

For a moment, the noise was deafening. The students in the hall all stood up and many of them made their way to the exit and, presumably, to their dorms for the night. Once the older students had departed, James noticed that there were two older students standing at the rear end of the Gryffindor table, beckoning them to come. He pointed them out to the others and they all headed over to them.

The girl had a Mediterranean look about her with an olive complexion, dark brown hair and brown eyes.

"If I could please have your attention, we'll head off to the common room." She said firmly, waiting for the chatting to subside. A boy stood beside her with blonde hair, blue eyes and freckles.

"Okay," Said the boy, "Now that we have your attention, this is Joanne Keating and I am Darryn Price. We're the fifth year prefects for this year and feel free to come to us with any problems or concerns you may have about beginning life at Hogwarts." He finished speaking and dropped an arm around Joanne's shoulders, clearly wanting her to continue. Joanne swiftly picked up his arm and threw it off of her shoulders with a sarcastic grin.

"You may have noticed that your uniforms have adopted our colours of red and gold. Get used to them because over the next seven years of your life, you'll barely see any other." Joanne paused here and glanced around at all of the eager faces before continuing. "If you all could follow Darryn and me now and we will lead you towards the common room. Try your best to remember your way there, but be careful with the staircases...they like to move on you." The two prefects turned and walked quickly towards the exit, leaving the newbie's to wonder what on Earth she meant by moving staircases.

The sixteen new pupils were silent on the way, trying to memorise and take in their new surroundings. They walked up a large staircase in the entrance hall and continued along a long and narrow stone passage. The prefects then led them through a door and up approximately seven flights of steps, where they passed through yet another door and continued along another hallway. Lily turned to James and whispered cautiously.

"I shall never find my way around here. Every hallway, staircase and door looks the same to me."

"I wonder if they'll hand out maps." James asked her, but Lily didn't have time to answer, as they had come to a halt in front of a portrait of a rather large lady in a pink dress.

"Password?" The lady asked glumly, staring straight through the new students in front of her.

"Waggleskins." Darryn replied. The muggle-borns were in shock, but soon snapped out of it and entered the Gryffindor common room. Joanne then addressed them one more time.

"Remember that password, Waggleskins. We change it every month or so. We will inform you of these changes within a few days of the switch. Girls' dormitories are to your left, and boys' dormitories are to your right. Goodnight and be in the Great Hall for breakfast between the hours of 6:30 a.m. and 9 a.m. Your time tables shall be handed out then and your first class will start at 9:05 a.m. Nice to meet you all. Welcome to Hogwarts." Joanne concluded and she headed up the stairs to the girls' dorms, beckoning for them to follow. Lily, Kari, Tina and Rachel said goodnight to James, Peter, Remus and Sirius, hugging them each briefly and then followed Joanne upstairs and Darryn stepped forward to talk to the boys.

"Yeah, what she said, follow me to your dorms."

Each year group in Gryffindor was allocated two or three dorms according to numbers. Since there was eight of them this year, the girls divided into two dorms. Kari, Rachel, Tina and Lily in one and Hayley, Isobel, Ashalea and Samantha were to share the other.

As soon as they entered the room, the girls, being over excited about their new life, ran to choose the best beds. After a few minutes of scrambling and minor arguments, Kari got the bed to the left of the door and Rachel got the bed to her left, Tina got the bed to the right of the door and Lily was to her right. They soon noticed that their belongings had been bought up for them and were on the floor at the foot of their beds. The girls then found the bathroom, which was through a door in between Rachel and Lily's beds. There was only one shower and one toilet, which meant that there was bound to be fights over whose turn it was, but that didn't concern them at that moment. After the initial excitement had worn off, the girls realised that it was 10 p.m. and that they had to be up early the next morning for breakfast and classes and so they went to bed.

The following morning, Lily was the first to wake. For a moment, she almost didn't remember where she was. The furnishings of the room were a lot fancier than she was accustomed to. All of the beds were four-posters, with scarlet, velvet bedspreads and gold, satin sheets. Sweeping scarlet curtains with golden tassels separated each bed compartment from the rest and within each compartment; there was a mahogany chest of drawers and a matching bedside table. As Lily swept her own curtains aside, she noted that there were two dressing tables on either side of the bathroom door for communal use and she took this opportunity to creep quietly to the bathroom before any of the others awoke.

A few dorm rooms away, Remus was the first to awake. He lay in his bed listening for a moment to gage whether the others were awake or still sleeping. Hearing only silence, he smiled to himself and snuck out of bed, out of his compartment and had almost made it to the bathroom door when he heard a shuffling from behind him. He turned around to face Peter, who was standing outside his own bed compartment, arms folded and tapping his foot.

"Not so fast there, Lupin." Peter said, cocking one of his eyebrows at Remus, who just sighed.

"Should I start whistling the cowboy western stand-off at dawn tune, or what?" Sirius asked, coming out from behind his curtains.

"Nope, you should all just sit back and watch as I shoot you all from the sidelines." James said with a grin, sprinting towards the bathroom door. In the few seconds it took Remus to react, it was too late. James slammed the door in his face. "Is it too immature to yell nah-nah, nee, nah-nah right now?" James yelled through the door over the, now running, shower. Remus, Sirius and Peter just glared at the closed door.

Not knowing where the boys' dorm was, the girls headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast without them. After stopping and asking for directions a few times, they made it to the breakfast table by a little after eight a.m.

The boys, however, 'just ran with it'.

"Sirius, we already passed that statue of...'Merwyn the Malicious'" Peter exclaimed in exasperation. Sirius had led them on a seemingly wild goose chase from the Gryffindor common room and they were now in somewhere known as the Charms Corridor. While this probably meant something quite significant to older students, to the boys who had only been Hogwarts students for a mere twelve hours or so, it meant squat to say the least.

"It is around here somewhere, I know it!" Sirius exclaimed, barging into a broom-cupboard. Remus poked his head into the cupboard and looked around as if inspecting it.

"You know, the last time we were here, the Great Hall looked a little larger...and tables! There was definitely at least one table..." Sirius smiled sarcastically at him, nodding his head.

"Okay, one of you should try to do better." Sirius taunted. Peter jogged over to a nearby Ravenclaw girl and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, miss. Would you please be ever so kind as to give us directions to the Great Hall?" He asked sweetly. The girl nodded and smiled at him.

"First year here, is it? I got so lost on my first day that I wound up _outside._ You just go down all of these stairs to the first floor and go through the door at the bottom which is directly across from where we're standing now. Then go straight down that corridor, and you should recognise the entrance hall. The doors to the Great Hall are on the Ground floor and should be open." She told him.

"Thank you." Peter said before turning to Sirius and throwing his arms up in vexation. "Was _that _so difficult, Black?" Sirius folded his arms and pursed his lips, but followed Peter anyway.

"So, I take it that the boys have either gotten lost or they slept in." Rachel said with a grin as she reached for the strawberry jam. The other girls laughed, but were interrupted by someone's shadow leering over them, they each looked up tentatively.

"I am Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration professor and the Gryffindor Head of House. I have your class schedules here. Now, what are your names and I shall hand them out." Professor McGonagall obviously took her job as a magic instructor very seriously, Lily thought, for she was wearing the full robe, cape and pointed hat that muggles only wore as fancy dress. Lily, however, thought she looked extremely impressive.

A few minutes later, the girls were discussing their timetables in excited whispers.

"Oh I am so glad that we are in all of the same classes!" Tina said smiling, wide-eyed, gripping onto her timetable as if her life depended on it. An older boy who was sitting a meter or so away from them leaned over to them.

"All the first years take their classes together, as a house and two houses usually pair together per class. You should be in each other's classes." He said with smile. Kari nodded with a smirk on her face.

"Thank you, we didn't know." She said, turning back to the others and giggling.

"What are you all giggling for?" Remus' voice came from behind her as he slid in to sit beside Kari. The other boys all took seats beside the girls as well.

"We got our timetables. Professor McGonagall should be over here in a mo-" Rachel began.

"Nice of you to join us boys, could I please have your names so that I can give you your schedules _before _you need to be in class." Professor McGonagall said in a stern voice. One by one the boys told her their names and one by one, she handed them their schedules.

"Oh cool, we're in all of each others' classes!" Peter exclaimed. Tina placed her hand on top of his and smiled at him patronisingly.

"Of course we are, Peter. _All _first years are in the same classes and two houses pair together per class. Didn't you know that?" She asked. He shook his head, gulping. Tina made eye contact with the older boy down the table and grinned.

"So, anyone have any idea how to get to Charms? It says we have Professor Flitwick. He sounds like a fairy if you ask me." Peter said, resting his right ankle on his left knee and leaning back in his chair, arms folded behind his head. The others laughed, but Lily didn't at first, unsure if that was an actual possibility. Tina scanned her schedule, looking for the entry for Thursday mornings.

"It just says Charms G.C. on the third floor. What does G.C. mean, I wonder?" Tina stated, thinking aloud. Kari looked around for someone to ask, tapping an older girl on the shoulder as she walked past them towards the exit.

"Excuse me; we need to find the Charms G.C., only we don't know what G.C. stands for exactly." Kari said sweetly, her Irish accent working its' magic.

"G.C. simply means General Classroom. It's on the third floor. You go up the grand staircase in the entrance hall, turn right and go up one flight of stairs and go through the door marked second floor. From there, follow the corridor, if you go past the trophy room, you've gone too far." The girl told them with a smile. Kari nodded and gave her thanks before turning to face the others and shrugging.

"What can I say? It's the luck of the Irish." Her large green eyes twinkling.

When the group of eight filed into their Charms class, they were greeted by a voice, only, they couldn't see a person.

"Oh, maybe this is the _ghost _teacher mum told me about!" Rachel exclaimed in an excited whisper. Suddenly, a tiny man popped out from behind a stack of books.

"Please kindly take a seat. Gryffindors, please be seated on the right side of the room and Ravenclaws on the other." He said, making a pile of books in front of the blackboard. Lily stood still, as if she was rooted to the spot. Sirius grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to move.

"There's a _little man, _Sirius, a _little man_!" She whispered, almost hysterically. Sirius pursed his lips and gawked at her.

"Ex-nay on the ittle-lay." He said in a sing-song voice. Finally, with some help from Sirius, Lily found her seat in the back row on the Gryffindor side of the room.

"First of all, I wish to welcome you all to Charms and your first year here at Hogwarts!" The little man exclaimed. "I am Professor Flitwick. In this class, we shall focus on enchantments, bewitchments, incantations and of course, charms. Today, we shall start with the basic, _lumos_!" Professor Flitwick swished his wand on the last word and a bright light shone out of the end of it. "Please take the next few minutes to attempt the spell yourselves and we shall regroup shortly."

"So apparently, the incantation for bluebell flames sounds an awful lot like lumos when uttered during laughter." Sirius told Madame Pomfrey, the school nurse, as she rubbed potion into his newly singed face. She shook her head and then swished her wand, muttering something inaudible to Sirius. "You would think that they would make a larger difference in wording for two spells when one is only for casting light and the other, for setting something alight. I mean, I know they sound the same when said like that, but they are two _very _dif-"

"Mr Black, you are free to go. Please go _straight_ back to your Charms class. I shall owl Professor Flitwick to ensure you _made _it back." Madame Pomfrey said sternly. Sirius stood from his seat on the hospital bed, touching his face in shock.

"I'm all better already?" He asked incredulously. "Wow, my eyebrows are back and everything! Thanks Mrs P."

"Well done class! Please practice casting lumos and nox for your next lesson, on Monday at 9." Professor Flitwick said at the end of class and everyone stood to leave. "Mr Black, please stay back for a moment and show me your spells one more time. I want to ensure you have them right so that you can practice _safely _within your dormitory over the weekend."

"I'll catch up with you guys at Defence against the Dark Arts." Sirius said with a grin and he stalked over to Flitwick, who was still standing on his mound of books in order to reach the blackboard. The group watched as Sirius greeted him with a pat on the head and then they left the room with a giggle.

By lunchtime, Lily felt as if she had run a marathon. Defence against the Dark Arts had been fairly strenuous. The teacher had made them use the expelliarmus spell in what seemed almost like a cruel game of tag. Finishing her cucumber and tuna sandwich, she unfolded her timetable to look at where to go to next.

"It says that we have Herbology next in Greenhouse 1 with Professor Mungoweed." Lily stated, taking a sip of her orange juice. "At least they should be fairly fire-free." She said with a smile at Sirius. He smiled sarcastically at her.

"Oh ha-ha, everyone's a comedian." He replied in return, rubbing his eyebrows out of instinct.

"Shall we head out to the greenhouses? At least they're relatively easy to find." Rachel suggested, finishing her last mouthful of lemonade and slamming her cup down a little harder than she originally intended. A mutual grunt of consent was made by the others and they all rose from their seats, swinging their book bags over their shoulders for the journey.

They headed out of the great hall and across the entrance hall, out through the large oak doors. The greenhouses could be seen in the distance and by the time they arrived at their destination, Lily was almost dead on her feet and couldn't believe how she could have thought she was exhausted before and she also couldn't believe how on Earth she was going to make it through both Herbology and History of Magic, which was yet to come. But somehow, she made it.

"Thank god that's over!" Rachel exclaimed, sagging backwards into an armchair in the Gryffindor common room. Lily flopped to the floor at Rachel's feet, leaning her head back against the chair's arm and Tina soon took her place, resting against the other.

"This is only day one girls." Remus told them with a grin. "And I think it's going to get a lot harder before it gets any easier." He added. The girls groaned in unison and Kari now joined her new friends on the floor, lying down, knees raised, in front of Tina and Lily.

"Those uplifting words of hope were brought to you by Remus Lupin, everyone!" Kari announced mockingly. Remus just raised and dropped his eyebrows with a shake of his head, before taking a seat on a stool to watch James beat Peter at chess. Sirius was seated opposite Remus watching intently.

"I'll bet you five sickles, Potter wins." Sirius taunted with a grin. Remus' eyes glinted, unable to resist.

"You're on." They're schooling careers had begun.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

By Friday afternoon, the group was exhausted. Their Friday classes had consisted of potions first thing in the morning and transfiguration before lunch. Thankfully, first years had Friday afternoons free to allow for things such as flying lessons which were to be the following week. Potions had been a nightmare. The first year Gryffindors had spent the class with the first year Slytherins, as well as being harassed by the potions master, Professor Matais. Transfiguration was a lot more enjoyable. Professor McGonagall took that class and they had all been able to produce a living mouse from a tissue box by the end of the lesson. James had even been able to get the colouring correct. His was a soft grey whilst the others' mice had mostly floral patterned coats.

The group were seated in what was becoming their usual spot in the Gryffindor Common Room, with the girls in a heap on, and in the immediate vicinity of, an armchair and the boys crowded around the nearby chess table, taking bets on who was to be victorious. Currently, Sirius and Remus were playing each other and Remus was losing horribly.

"What is the matter with you tonight, Remus? You're playing particularly bad!" James exclaimed from his stool close by. He had previously bet Peter that Remus would win as he usually did, especially to Sirius, who had about as much skill for wizard's chess as he did for charms. Remus looked a little peaky and seemed to almost flinch at James' comment. He suddenly rose from his own stool.

"You know what guys; I might head over to the hospital wing. I'm not feeling very well." He muttered quietly. The girls' heads snapped up, hearing Remus' remark. Kari was the first to leap to her feet.

"Are you okay, Remus? Would you like us to walk you?" She asked in a concerned Irish lilt. Remus smiled at her unconvincingly, shaking his head.

"I'll be okay. Besides, someone here is going to have to avenge me at chess." He said with a strained smirk and left the room through the portrait of the fat lady. The others stared at each other in shock and concern for their friend.

"He seemed fine all day." Lily said, her brow furrowed with worry. The others nodded.

"It must've come on quite suddenly; I hope he is okay." Kari said, almost as if she was thinking aloud. The boys just shrugged.

"Remus gets sick a lot, he always has. He tells us that it's nothing to worry about." Peter said, taking Remus seat and re-arranging the chess pieces to start a fresh game. "Sirius Orion Black, I am here to avenge Remus Jonathon lupin." He said with a grin and Sirius was all too happy to oblige.

Remus was absent for the remainder of the weekend. Out of worry, Lily, Kari, Rachel and Tina ventured into the hospital wing to speak to Madame Pomfrey about how Remus was doing. She merely told them that he would live and that he was extremely contagious and could not be visited. Far from making the girls feel any more relieved, this actually concerned each of them more and when Remus finally strode into the Great Hall on Monday morning for breakfast, fresh from the hospital wing, the girls pounced on him, enveloping him in hugs.

"Remus, where have you been?"

"Are you okay?"

"Madame Pomfrey wouldn't tell us anything!"

"We tried to come and visit, honest!" Remus held his arms out at a length away from his body, gesturing for the girls to settle down.

"I'm fine, truly. Madame Pomfrey was right not to let you through. I was very sick, but I'm fine now and I'm ready for class." He told them, his face set firmly. The girls nodded silently and took their seats at the table. The boys, whom had not risen in the first place, simply greeted Remus between mouthfuls.

"Glad to have you back, mate." Remus grinned, taking his own seat and reaching for the toast.

"Glad to be back." He agreed with a tired, but well, grin.

"Friday the 10th of September, 1971 is here!" Sirius cried, walking into the Great Hall for a belated lunch. Transfiguration had proved eventful for Sirius, having succeeded in turning Professor McGonagall's hat into a leopard. This would have been considered quite a feat, had she not been wearing it at the time. The rest of the gang were seated around the Gryffindor table, eating their lunch and the boys looked up at Sirius, looks of pure ecstasy on their faces, the girls meanwhile, had looks of pure confusion.

"And what, pray tell, is so special about Friday, the 10th of September, 1971?" Rachel asked between her mouthfuls of cucumber sandwich. Sirius let his shoulders and jaw drop in disbelief that Rachel and, as it seemed, the rest of the girls, with the exception of Tina who was also grinning, could have forgotten such a mementos occasion.

"We, my dear Rachel, are going to learn to fly." He said, waving his hands with a flourish. Lily almost choked on her salad, inhaling the mayonnaise as she did so.

"Excuse me," Lily said huskily, her throat still clogged with food, "Did you just say that we're going to _fly_?" She asked incredulously. Lily had known that witches and wizards _could_ fly, with the help of a broomstick of course, but she had not realized that they would be expected to do so after only seven days of tuition.

"Don't worry Lily, the broomsticks they have here at Hogwarts are only Shooting Stars. Generally, clouds move faster across the sky than they do." Remus told her with a reassuring smile. Lily found it difficult to believe that this was a comfort due to the fact that it was the height rather than the speed that concerned her.

"It is a pity that they won't let us bring our own brooms from home. I have a Nimbus 1500 at home." Tina said almost whimsically, resting her head on the back of her hand and staring off into the distance. The boys all stood looking at her, gaping.

"_You _own a Nimbus 1500?" Peter asked finally, an incredulous look on his face. Tina nodded, her eyes wide.

"I got it for Christmas last year from my foster parents." She explained. "I go on it every chance I get, but obviously, seeing as first years aren't allowed to have them here, I haven't been on it in ages." She added sadly.

"I think it's so unfair that we aren't allowed to even try out for Quidditch. I'm ten times a better player than the stooges on the Gryffindor Team this year!" Sirius exclaimed rather loudly. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Oh, and you're so modest too..." She muttered, trailing off. Kari and Lily snickered into their plates of sandwiches.

"Could the first years please follow me outside to meet Professor Staccato for your flying lesson." Professor McGonagall announced from the head of the Gryffindor table nearest to the door.

Soon, each of the students was lined up in two rows facing each other on the grass outside the entrance hall. Each had a broomstick on the ground beside them. Professor Staccato was a short man in his 50's with a dark, handle-bar moustache and a thick Italian accent. He was standing at the end of the rows, his own broom, which looked remarkably like a Nimbus 1500 Tina thought, resting on the ground beside him, like the students.

"Firstly, you raise your hand over the broomstick and command it, up!" He said, emphasising on the last word. The broomstick shot upwards into his grip with a rather loud 'thwack'. If it hurt, he didn't wince. Lily gulped, looking down at her broomstick with reservations. Tina stood grinning at hers in anticipation; Kari looked about as hesitant as Lily and Rachel, while she was nervous inside, looked excited and happy on the outside. Each of the boys wore a large grin and to Lily, looked rather psychopathic. "Now it's your turn!" Professor Staccato said to the girl standing immediately to his left. As each student commanded and held their broomstick triumphantly, Lily grew more nervous.

"Up." Peter said and the broomstick rose to his outstretched hand with no hesitation.

"Up!" James commanded and the broomstick sped up to his hand almost as quickly as the Professor's had.

"Up!" Sirius instructed and his broom shot up as quickly as James'.

"Up!" Remus called and his broom rose. Lily watched almost numb as her turn drew nearer. It reached Kari first who standing to Lily's right.

"Up?" Kari said hesitantly. Her broom rose, tail end first, shuddered and then fell back to the floor. She looked around embarrassed. James, who was standing opposite her leaned closer and whispered to her.

"Not as a question Kari, you have to want it." He muttered almost silently. Kari nodded slightly at him and then tried again.

"Up." The broom did not rise fast, but it did rise and Kari looked relieved.

"Up." Lily said, her voice shaking. The broom rose to her outstretched hand and she grinned in relief, glancing up at Sirius who grinned back at her proudly.

Tina, of course, got her command right the first try. In fact, her broom was almost as enthusiastic as James' and Sirius'. Rachel's meanwhile, rose but slowly.

"The next step is the mount. You have to stand with your feet shoulders width apart, holding your broom like so between your legs." He instructed, demonstrating his stance. "To raise the broom, you tilt backwards towards your tail-bone slightly. You should now do so, only slightly, just enough to raise the broom one metre from the ground." Lily gulped. Again, the students began to follow his methods. Lily gripped her broom with both hands and stood with her feet slightly apart, the brush end of the broom facing behind her. She felt the broom automatically right itself so that it was level with the ground and was so shocked that she leaned backwards in shock. With a gasp, she was off!

Lily screamed as she held onto her broom so tight that her knuckles started to split. Sirius, who was still laughing at a joke with James, rose his gaze to find the screams. He furrowed his eyebrow in determination and without hesitation, put his broom between his legs, pushed off the ground with his feet and leaned back. His broom was rising as quickly as it could go, in the direction of Lily.

"Lily! Stop leaning back! You need to sit up straight!" He called out to her. She was in no frame of mind to evaluate what Sirius was saying and her broom continued to rise. Finally, Sirius' broom gave one more little burst of speed and he shot towards Lily. He grabbed hold of the brush end of her broom, restraining it from going any further. The broom was still thrusting upward, trying to go further into the sky. Sirius looked down at the ground and could only just make out the specs of people running around on the ground below them. He gulped, and then shook his head to regain his focus. It was taking all of his strength holding onto the broom and finally Lily opened her eyes and looked down at him.

"No!" He exclaimed, but too late. Lily had looked down and he could see her eyes rolling back into her head. Her broom started to drop as she lost consciousness. Sirius gripped his own broom between his legs as tightly as he could, willing it to stay level and in a split second, reached his arms out to her, catching her swiftly, one arm under her knees and one holding her back. "Phew." He exhaled in relief as he realised that he had caught her and that his broom was still safely horizontal in mid-air. "I've got her!" He shouted back to the ground. "We're coming down!" He called.

Sirius' feet had barely touched the floor when they were surrounded by people.

"Stand back, people, please! She needs air!" He shouted angrily. He lay Lily down on the floor, wiping her hair from her eyes and grabbing either side of her face with his hands. "Lily? Can you hear me?" He asked, his eyes wide in concern and his breath laboured. She remained silent and he started to panic. Tina, Rachel, Remus, Kari, Peter and James pushed their way through the crowd and her were now kneeling down next to their friend in worry. "Lily?" Sirius tried again desperately. Suddenly, Lily's eyebrows creased inwards just slightly. It was the tiniest of twitches and then, as Sirius would remember it for many years, one of the greatest sounds he had ever heard  
(as he had honestly thought she had died), she moaned. "Oh thank god!" He exclaimed, grabbing her and hugging her tightly.

"Thank you, Siri-" Lily managed to get out before losing consciousness again. He grinned and exhaled deeply, letting his head roll back on his shoulders and people from all angles were reaching through the mass of bodies around them to clap him on the shoulder. It was a good feeling.

When Lily awoke, she was in a hospital bed in the hospital wing. Her eye sight was fuzzy but as she regained her sight, she looked around her bedside and saw her friends, in various states of consciousness themselves, barely sitting upright in chairs, their heads lolling about on their shoulders from exhaustion.

"Hi guys." Lily muttered her voice hoarse. In a flash, each of them was at her side, grabbing for her hands and feet, any part of her that they could hold on to. Looking at each of their faces, she noticed that there was one missing. "Where's Sirius?" She asked in concern. "He wasn't hurt, was he?" The others shook their heads and James was right about to say something when Sirius pushed between Kari and Tina and took their place, grabbing her hand.

"I'm here." He said. Lily smiled gratefully up at him, his longish black hair was askew, his dark eyes were squinting from tiredness and his lips were pursed into a small smile.

"Thank you." She told him sincerely. He grinned at her and squeezed her hand.

"Just don't ever scare me again." He told her, leaning down to hug her tightly.

"So, Siri, was it?" Rachel asked coyly, folding her arms and biting her bottom lip. Sirius blushed. Lily looked at them quizzically. "You called him that right before you passed out, the second time." Rachel explained. Lily smiled.

"Siri it is." Lily confirmed.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

It was Monday, October 4th, 1971 and the weather was getting cooler. The dregs of summer were over and winter was fast approaching. Kari was sitting; legs folded beneath her, in the armchair by the fire in the Common Room, her potions homework resting on her knees. The others had decided to go down to the lake to enjoy the last few moments of sunshine before dinner and Kari, the studious one, had remained behind to try and get her homework done. She sighed loudly and rested her head back in the chair, closing her eyes, her eyebrows raised in exasperation.

"I thought you could use some company." Rachel said, stepping through the portrait of the Fat Lady. She smiled at Kari and took a seat in the armchair opposite her, crossing her legs and slumping back into the chair. Kari smiled at her.

"Thanks, I could use a distraction. I can't think of what else to say in this stupid essay. How was the lake?" Kari asked. Rachel rolled her eyes and sat up, her legs still crossed and began animating her hands as if Kari needed props to understand what she was saying. One of the many things Kari had learned in the past month about Rachel, was that did this, _always_.

"Well, Sirius was, as usual, attempting to pick up myself, Lily or Tina and throw us in. James and Peter were playing with a quaffle they found down there. Lily was making a chain of flowers and Tina, as you can imagine, had her pants rolled up to her thighs and was wading in the shallows. Remus said that he wasn't feeling well and headed up about an hour ago. Did he come through here first? He said he was going to the Hospital Wing again." Rachel concluded. Kari's smile which she had from imagining her friends on the lakeside vanished in a heartbeat when Rachel mentioned Remus being sick again.

"Is he okay? Did he say what was wrong?" She asked in concern. Rachel shook her head.

"He just said that he wasn't feeling too well and then he left." Kari looked pensive for a moment and then sat her potions homework on a nearby desk and stood up.

"Maybe we should go to the Hospital Wing to check that he's okay?" Rachel shook her head.

"He must be really ill, Kari, or he wouldn't be in and out of the Hospital Wing all the time. I wouldn't want anyone to see me like that, would you?" Rachel asked with a small smile, knowing that Kari just wanted to make sure that their friend was okay. Kari nodded understanding.

"I guess I wouldn't either." She said, sitting back down. Kari grabbed her homework again and put pen to paper, still wondering about Remus. Rachel sighed and stood up.

"I'm going to get my own homework. I may as well make a start on it before tea."

Meanwhile, down at the lake, the sun was starting to set and Tina was starting to get cold. She waded out of the water, carrying her pebbles she had collected with her. There were five of them, each perfect for rock-skipping, apparently, and she was determined to learn how to do it. Lily was still sitting, her legs, which had started out curled beneath her, were bent off to her side and she had a ring of petite yellow flowers in her hair, almost like a halo, and a long chain of them looped together in her hands.

"Tina, come over here a moment!" She called out to her friend, not realising that she was barely a meter behind her. "Bend down." Lily instructed, holding another halo of flowers. Tina knelt and Lily placed it on her head gently. Tina stood, grinning, smoothing out her hair which was almost spiky around the back of her neck. Suddenly, a quaffle flew past, narrowly missing Lily's head. She frowned and put her hands on her hips and stood up to glare at James as he ran after it, grinning awkwardly in remorse.

"Potter, you almost killed me!" She cried angrily, her hands still on her hips, the chain of flowers getting squashed in her hands. James was now running back towards her, quaffle in hand and he stopped in front of her, reached out to straighten her halo, which was off-centre, and then he grabbed hold of her hand holding the flowers gently. She flinched, snapping her hand away from his, squashing the flowers further.

"I was just trying to get you to stop crushing the flowers, Lily." He said apologetically. Lily pursed her lips and was about to say something when Sirius interrupted.

"We should head back to the Common Room. Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes." He said looking pointedly at James and then smiling at Lily when James had turned away to head back to the castle. Lily smiled at Sirius and mouthed 'thank you'. Sirius just grinned, put his hands on her shoulders, turned her around in the direction of the castle, slung his arm around her shoulders and they began the walk back.

Tina was tagging along behind when Peter ran up alongside her.

"Nice halo." He told her with a grin, which was almost like a snigger. Tina glared at him, mockingly.

"Yes, I have a halo, because I am an angel. Also note that _you _have no halo." She told him with a curt nod. Peter laughed.

"Of course I don't. Watch this." Peter pulled his wand out of his pocket and muttered something that Tina failed to hear. She followed with her gaze to where his wand was pointed; straight at Sirius' back. Suddenly, Sirius turned around, with a shout, almost knocking Lily off balance. His hair was growing at an alarming rate, and not just the hair on his head. The hair on his arms, legs and even his eyebrows was touching the floor within seconds and all that could be heard from Sirius was a muffled scream. The others began to howl with laughter.

"Peter, okay, that was hilarious, but you should probably make it stop now." Tina said between her laughter. Peter bit his bottom lip.

"Umm, I, err, don't know how." He admitted and Tina hit him in the arm as hard as she could muster. Lily ran at him and followed suit.

"Peter Pettigrew! You had better think of something to do and quick!" She told him angrily. James came running towards them all, holding his stomach with laughter.

"We should probably get him to the Hospital Wing." James said, still grinning. "Hey, maybe we can check in on Remus while we're there?" He suggested with a shrug.

Upon reaching the Hospital Wing, James opened the door for the procession. A hairy-blob entered, followed by Lily, who was holding a clump of hair almost twice the size she was and Tina and Peter who were each holding clumps of equal or greater size than Lily's. Madame Pomfrey looked up from her desk, through a glass wall facing them and she muttered a one-syllable word before rushing out to meet them.

"What in the flaming hell have you done to this person?" She shrieked, parting the hair to try and find a hand. One found, grabbed and led Sirius to a hospital bed. "Who is under all of this?" She asked incredulously.

"Sirius Black, Madame Pomfrey." Lily answered politely, turning back around to glare at Peter, James and Tina whom were all laughing silently. However, upon meeting Lily's death-glare, they stopped abruptly. Madame Pomfrey shook her head, holding her chin pensively.

"Which charm did you use? The hair sprouting one or was it just an engorgement charm?" She asked her hands on her hips looking pointedly at the trio who were still trying to contain themselves. Peter stopped laughing long enough to answer her, just.

"It was an engorgement charm, Madame." Madame Pomfrey rolled her eyes.

"So no new hair sprouted, the ones he did have just grown." She thought aloud. She was muttering to herself and strolled down to the back of the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey walked past the many rows of beds and through the door marked 'Quarantine' at the back, returning to them with a potion bottle. Lily looked pensive for a moment, noting that there mustn't be anyone in quarantine at the moment, but the other beds were empty. So where had Remus gone?

"Drink this, Mr Black. It will stop the hair from growing and then we shall have to cut away what has grown." She told him. Lily cleared her throat politely.

"Madame Pomfrey, is there no one in the quarantine room at the moment?" She asked curiously. Madame Pomfrey shook her head.

"No, I-" Then she stopped herself, realising what it was that Lily was really asking. "Oh, you are looking for your friend, Mr Lupin." She stated, her eyes darting around the room. Lily eyed her suspiciously. "We had to have him moved." She said with a nod. Lily wasn't convinced. "Mr Black, how are you doing there? Have you drunk it all?"

"Mm hmm oomph!" could be heard from the large hair pile on the bed. Suddenly a hand burst through the many layers of thick, black hair and parted a way for his face to see through. "It tastes like puke flavour Bertie Bott's beans!" He exclaimed.

"Unless you want to look like a furry troll for the rest of your life, you had better drink every last drop!"

Several hours, and no dinner, later, the group was sitting in their usual spot by the fire, heaped on one of the two armchairs and crowding the chess table. Kari and Rachel were playing chess together, while the others struggled over their now last minute, potions homework which was due to be handed in first thing the following morning.

"So I wonder where Remus went then, if he wasn't in quarantine." Lily thought out loud. Kari's head snapped up.

"So where did he go?" She asked. "What was wrong with him? Is he okay?" Lily shrugged.

"Madame Pomfrey said that he had to be moved somewhere else." She replied. "That's all I know. Remus didn't say much at the lake other than that he wasn't feeling well and that he was going to the Hospital Wing."

"He didn't look too well this morning at breakfast." Peter said, starting to get concerned for his friend.

"We'll ask Remus when he comes back. He usually comes back the next day when he gets sick." Sirius answered, still staring frustrated at his potions essay question and blank parchment. "Kari, please be a darling and help me, just to get started?" He asked in a sickly sweet voice. Kari rolled her eyes and promptly threw a white bishop chess piece at him. Sirius winced, rubbed his head and then picked up the rather disgruntled little man. Rachel bounded over to him and snatched the miniature man out of his hands.

"I'm going to need this."

The following morning at breakfast, Remus slipped into the Great Hall just as Professor McGonagall cleared her throat at the head of the Gryffindor table. She gestured at him to take a seat and to be quiet.

"Most of you will be aware that here at Hogwarts, we embrace the Halloween tradition tightly. As so, we shall be planning a feast for Halloween night on, as I'm sure you all know, October 31st, which, this year, falls on a Sunday. The feast shall start promptly at 6 o'clock and it is mandatory that you all attend." She turned towards the staff table in order to resume her own breakfast, but suddenly remembered something. "You may also consider this a warning that the resident ghosts and poltergeists take this occasion very seriously and some, are more, err vocal about it than others." She finished, looking over her specs at the Gryffindor students. She had barely walked one meter when the small group of first years turned on Remus in a flurry of questions.

"Where were you?"

"Sirius grew a beard!"

"We went to the Hospital Wing to get help for him and you weren't there!"

"The quarantine room was empty!"

"Madame Pomfrey said you had to be moved!"

"Are you alright?" Kari finished and the group looked at him expectantly. Remus took a deep breath.

"I had a bug that I had during the summer break. I had to go and see Professor Dumbledore to see about getting the same medicated potion made up that I had last time." He explained. The others nodded, accepting his explanation, but Kari, although she was nodding, was far from done with her investigation.

"So, a Halloween feast, hey? That sounds exciting!" Rachel exclaimed, taking another bite of her toast with cream cheese. Peter nodded.

"My Grandmother told me that they have one every year. She said that once, Peeves, he's one of the poltergeists, made all of the food turn bad before everyone's eyes." Peter finished between chewing his mouthful of U.B.F (unidentified breakfast food). Lily, Kari ad Rachel screwed up their noses in revulsion. Tina, Sirius and James merely looked impressed and Remus rolled his eyes.

"It would've been a simple aging charm." Remus said with a sigh. "It's quite easy really." He concluded. This time Sirius, James, Tina and Peter rolled their eyes.

"It's still cool, Remus." James said indignantly.

As Halloween crept closer, decorations began to appear throughout the hallways, and on the exterior of the castle. The ghosts began to disappear one by one as they prepared for the one true festive holiday they could call their own. The poltergeists, however, and Peeves in particular, made it their lives (or should we say deaths) work to make each and every student suffer intensely. He would jump out from inside suits of armour; pour fake blood from the ceilings, or write in it crude messages on the walls. He also took to levitating the seats in classrooms and even in the Great Hall while students, and sometimes even professors, were still seated on them.

Finally, the evening of the feast had arrived. The entire school was sitting in the Great Hall, except for the Divination Professor, Dora Vablatsky, descended from the great Cassandra Vablatsky, whose seat was precariously empty as Dumbledore rose to his feet for the opening speech.

"Welcome to the Halloween Feast of 1971. As you all know, this is a longstanding tradition of Hogwarts to host a celebratory meal to commemorate the dead, the living dead and the transparent dead." Here, he smiled at Sir Nearly-Headless Nick who was sitting at a table floating high above the students' heads. Nick rose a transparent glass to the headmaster. "Please enjoy your banquet and the rest of your evening." He took his seat and waved his arms, filling the plates with a luxurious feast of foods.

"I have come to the conclusion that I like Halloween." Sirius mumbled, taking a chunk off his turkey leg with his teeth. Lily, who was sitting next to him crinkled her nose at him and handed him a napkin.

"You might want to use a bib, Siri. You're getting drool and turkey tendons on your robes."

Suddenly, there was a thundering crash as a large pile of debris came smashing through the ceiling of the Great Hall. Students dove in every direction, trying to move out of the way in time. There was screaming and crying all around. Lily had ducked her head under the table in the nick of time, as a chunk of twisted metal flew past, just above her now lowered back.

"Get under!" She cried as loud as she could and pulled on Sirius and Tina who were on either side of her. Once the three of them were under, Lily realised that Rachel, Remus and James were already huddled beneath the table. Peter and Kari however, were nowhere to be seen.

"Peter! Kari!" They began to cry as loudly as they could, but their voices were drowned out by screams, crashing and a high wind that seemed to have formed from nowhere. Lily tried to peek out from under the table to see what on Earth was going on, but all she could see was dust and debris flying around. The group of six huddled together under the table, glancing wearily at each other and at the other students around them. James looked out across the small walkway that separated the Gryffindor table from the Ravenclaw table and saw a pale, petite hand sticking out from the rubble, wearing a silver and black stone ring that Kari always wore. He tapped Remus on the shoulder and gestured toward the hand.

"Come help me!" He called to Remus, trying desperately to be heard above all of the noise. Remus nodded and the two of them crept out from under the table hesitantly. Remus reached Kari first and grabbed hold of her hand as tightly as he could without crushing it, squeezing it and releasing a couple of times. The hand squeezed back and he sighed deeply in relief.

"She's ok!" He cried happily. He glanced around and above them, half expecting to be hit at any moment by swirling debris, but he couldn't see more than two feet in any direction. James grabbed hold of a giant rectangular piece of timber and glass that was lying directly on top of Kari, but couldn't move it alone. Remus gave Kari's hand another quick squeeze, rubbed her fingers in reassurance and then released her hand to help James. James bobbed his head three times to indicate to move the rubble on the count of three. Remus nodded and together, they bobbed in unison, three times. On the third bob, they heaved as hard as they could until they were able to slide the piece of debris off of the pile that was their friend. Once the main piece was moved, they were able to dig through some minor layers to get her out.

Kari was covered in already forming bruises and her eyebrow and bottom lip were split, blood running down her face. She blinked the dust from her eyes as best she could and tried to lift herself out of the small hole in the pile of rubbish that was now covering the floor of the Great Hall. Remus and James picked her up as carefully as they could, whilst still kneeling and ushered her quickly back to the safety of the table. As the three of them slid under the table, a large chunk of metal landed right where seconds previously they had all been.

"Thank you." Kari mumbled to James and Remus who laid her down length ways down the middle of the table, the others huddled around her at the edges of the table.

"What is going on?" Tina cried to Sirius, who was sitting beside her and was the only person who could hear a word she was saying. He shrugged.

Then, a flash of green light almost seemed to bounce off of every surface, followed by shouting and screams. Rachel glanced in fear at her friends and then saw Peter, crawling towards the table from the edge of the room. She cheered and pointed at him coming, alerting all of the others, with the exception of Kari who was fighting just to remain conscious.

Finally, Peter made it under the table. His face was dirty and bleeding, from where, it was impossible to tell. He was greeted by his friends launching themselves at him, grateful that he was with them. Seeing Kari was injured also, he bent over her with a smile, brushing her hair out of her face and various assortments of cuts. She opened her eyes briefly, smiled at him, glad that he was safe and then closed her eyes again.

All of a sudden, a series of white and green lights could be seen, flashing around the room and after a few moments, the still swirling debris fell to the ground and the air grew still. For a few minutes, the students remained perfectly stationery, too scared to move in case it all started again. Then a voice boomed over the crowd.

"It is safe to come out students! The Deatheaters have gone! Madame Pomfrey is on her way, please help the fallen to get to her and stay together! Find your friends, return to what is left of your house table and stay there. Your heads of house will do a roll call as soon as possible! I will be filling in as the Hufflepuff head of house until further notice! There have been some casualties." Professor Dumbledore's voice trailed off and one by one, each Hogwarts' student came out of hiding, each more battered and bruised than the last.

Remus picked up Kari from her place under the table and carried/dragged her out into the open, where he could stand and properly carry her to where Madame Pomfrey was waiting with supplies.

"Are you ok to walk, Peter?" Rachel asked him, concerned. He nodded, but stumbled over a piece of rubble. James jumped a step and put his arm around his friends' shoulders.

"Here, lean on me, Pete." He said with a small reassuring smile. Peter nodded again and almost sagged against James. Rachel stepped up to his other side, putting his arm around her shoulders so that he could lean on her. He did all too willingly. Rachel noticed that there was blood streaming down his left leg, and a piece of glass sticking precariously out of his calf. She said nothing, fighting back the urge to throw up and carried on.

Later that night, Kari and Peter were each in a hospital bed, side by side. Each of the beds had been pushed together as close as they could and still let someone stand in between to administer treatment. Other beds had had to be conjured up as they did not have enough to hold the injured and incapacitated. After seeing that their friends were comfortably in bed and were being looked after, the remaining friends had been ushered from the hospital wing. They walked slowly back to the Gryffindor Common Room.

"What are Deatheaters?" Lily asked quietly, breaking the silence which had encompassed the group since the attack. It was Tina who answered first.

"They are the followers of Lord Voldemort." She said simply, grimacing. Lily still looked confused.

"Lord Voldemort is an evil wizard. He kills a lot of people, horribly." Remus added bluntly. Sirius ran his right hand through his thick black hair, making it stand on end in every direction.

"I hope everyone is ok. Dumbledore said there were casualties." He muttered, barely loud enough for the others to hear him. Remus shook his head.

"He said that was filling in as the Hufflepuff head of house so Professor Mungoweed must have died." Remus said quietly.

"I always liked her." James mumbled sadly. Professor Mungoweed was their Herbology professor.

"So this Lord Voldemort, why would he have been attacking Hogwarts?" Lily asked, perplexed.

"Who knows?" Tina asked. "Why do the clinically insane do anything?" She asked with a short, rather blunt laugh.

"Well, Sirius?" Lily asked. He rolled his eyes.

"Oh, please. I wasn't the one who decided it would be a hoot to see if my broomstick could reach the upper atmosphere." He retaliated. Lily blushed, but replied indignantly just the same.

"Well, _I_ wasn't the one who decided to grow my hair to four times the length of the quidditch pitch." She poked her tongue out at him.

"I resent that! I did not _choose_! I was the _victim_ in that situation! If anyone in that circumstance was clinically insane, it was Peter..." Sirius argued, trailing off as they remembered that Peter was actually still in the hospital. Lily sniffed and looked away from Sirius, folding her arms in a huff. He sighed and turned to face her, placing a hand on each of her shoulders.

"I'm sorry for teasing you about the broomstick episode. I know you were scared and I know that it wasn't your fault." She smiled. "Now come on, let's get back to the Common Room so I can make up for that last feminine comment by beating James at a particularly _manly_ game of chess!"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

The morning after the attacks, Tina, Lily, Remus, James, Sirius and Rachel headed toward the Great Hall for breakfast out of instinct and were surprised upon their arrival to find it completely repaired. Not a floating candle was askew. Professor Dumbledore was standing at the staff table, trying to get the attention of the students. Suddenly, he let off a series of red sparks from the tip of his wand, and finally the room was silent. The group of friends hurriedly took seats at the far end of the Gryffindor table to listen to their headmaster.

"Last night, we were attacked by Lord Voldemort and his band of Deatheaters. I am sorry to announce the murders of the following staff and students." Dumbledore picked up a long piece of parchment from in front of him on the table and began to read a long list of names. Included was Professor Mungoweed, their Herbology professor as well as several students, which fortunately, the group did not know. "I am afraid that this isn't the first time he has attacked in such a large-scale manner and I fear that it won't be the last. I have placed wards around the school grounds, preventing strangers from entering the premises. There are also now hexes on every door and window leading to the exterior of the castle which cannot be breached from the outside without firstly harming the intruder and secondly, alerting myself to their presence and whereabouts. Students and staff of course will be exempt from these hexes. I would like to commend you all for your bravery and efforts to protect and aid your fellow peers during and after the event that was last night's feast. You are to be applauded. Classes will be cancelled for today as the injured are restored to full health. Most students shall be well enough for classes resuming tomorrow with a few exceptions. The quidditch match, should the Hufflepuff and Slytherin teams all be well, will be tomorrow evening." He finished with a curt nod and took his seat.

The small group ate their breakfast in silence, glancing around the room to see a few people with tear-stained faces, sobbing quietly into their plates. Several of the teachers were sitting amongst these students, attempting to console them in vain. The loss of a friend cannot be soothed, only supported.

Rachel let a lonely tear roll down her cheek and fall with a small plop into her glass of ovaltine. James, who was sitting next to her and heard the tear fall, said nothing, but reached for her hand under the table and squeezed it, smiling at her.

"We're the lucky ones." Lily said quietly, noticing Rachel's swollen eyes and then turning to glance solemnly at two Ravenclaw students who were clinging onto each other, their bodies heaving with the strength of their sobs. She swallowed, trying to curb her own tears and Tina was remarkably quiet which was out of character for her. Sirius, Remus and James just looked at each other, unsure of how to cope with the distraught girls.

"We have the entire day to ourselves! We can go and visit Kari and Peter and then, if they are all better, we can go to the lake." Remus suggested with a reassuring smile at Rachel, Lily and Tina. James and Sirius grinned at Remus to congratulate him on his idea. Slowly, the girls began to nod and pushed their plates away, still mostly full.

As they turned out into the Entrance Hall, they were greeted by Kari and Peter who had already been released. The cuts and bruises were completely gone! The group huddled together for a moment in a hug, laughing and, among the girls, crying in relief.

"You look fantastic!" Rachel exclaimed, embracing Kari tightly. Kari smiled as wide as she could.

"It was the potion that Madame Pomfrey uses. It's amazing! It grows new layers of skin." Kari explained. She modelled her face, manoeuvring it from side to side to demonstrate the results for her friends, who proceeded to touch and stroke her face with fascination. She giggled. "Ok guys, you can stop now, that tickles!"

"Shall we go to the lake?" Remus asked, his eyebrows raised and a grin plastered on his face. Together, the group wandered towards the lake, thankful that they were, as Lily had said, the lucky ones.

The following day, almost all of the injured students were out of the hospital wing. The only people remaining were in the process of regrowing limbs, which was apparently a long and painful process. So classes seemed as full as usual. As the day drew on, the entire student population were getting more and more excited for the first quidditch match of the season. Hufflepuff and Slytherin quidditch players had worn their uniforms to class all day to hype up the other students and to try to persuade the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor students to support their teams. Of course, it didn't take much coaxing for Hufflepuff to get the support of Ravenclaw and Gryffindor as Slytherin was mutually detested by the other houses.

"It feels weird wearing a 'I Heart Hufflepuff' badge." Tina commented, fastening her pin to her Gryffindor scarf which was wrapped around her head like an oversized bandana, the pin sticking out precariously above her forehead. Each of the group had been given a Hufflepuff pin to wear as they walked down to the quidditch pitch after their final class. Suddenly, Remus stopped walking, his face twitching a little, almost as if he was in pain.

"Sorry guys, but you should go on without me. I'm not feeling too well. I might go and see Madame Pomfrey." He muttered, without making eye contact. The boys shrugged dismissively but the girls looked at Remus in concern.

"Are you ok?" Lily asked. Kari reached her hand out to rest it on his shoulder.

"Would like us to walk you there?" She asked in apprehension. Remus shook his head.

"You go on ahead. I'll come back later, when I'm feeling better." He turned and walked back up to the castle, his face still in a grimace.

"He'll be okay. Come on, or we'll miss the start of the game." Peter said, taking Rachel by the hand and clapping James on the shoulder. The group continued towards the stadium in silence.

Hufflepuff got slaughtered by Slytherin, much to the disgust of the people, except the Slytherins of course, in the stands. Shortly after the snitch was caught, signalling the end of the match, Rachel saw movement across the castle grounds in the distance. She pointed out the shadows of three people to the others and they each strained to make out who they were and what they were doing. Thankfully, the light provided from the full moon aided in their identification of the three individuals.

"That's definitely Dumbledore. I'd recognise that hat anywhere." Sirius said with a snicker. The others laughed.

"The other person is all in white and wearing a white cap. Maybe its Madame Pomfrey..." Peter suggested.

"I wonder if Remus managed to find her before she left to go where ever it is that she's going." Kari thought aloud. Then she squinted at the third unidentified person who had unkempt brown hair and her eyes widened in realisation at the same time as the others.

"That's Remus! Where are they taking him?" Rachel asked rather loudly. She looked out towards the direction they were heading. "They're heading towards the Forbidden Forest!" She exclaimed.

In a flash, the group was on their feet and heading towards where they had seen their friend just minutes before. As they neared the pathway leading away from the castle, they realised, however, that Remus, Dumbledore and Pomfrey were nowhere to be seen.

The following morning, Wednesday 3rd November was a cold one. Heading down to breakfast, the girls huddled together for warmth and hurried as fast as they could to see if Remus had come back from the night before. Upon their arrival in the Great Hall, they saw Peter, James and Sirius seated at their usually places but Remus was not with them. As the girls approached, Tina raised her arms in question, her palms facing upwards. The boys shook their heads.

"I vote we skip Herbology and go and see if Remus is in the Hospital Wing." Kari said in determination as she took a seat beside Peter. The others stared at her. Kari was usually quite studious and for her to suggest such a thing, they knew that she must be worried.

"Okay." Sirius said, answering for the others, but no one objected. Once the chimes of the bell could be heard echoing throughout the school grounds, the group of friends stood abruptly from their seats at breakfast and headed in the direction of the Hospital Wing. However, once they got there, the only people there were patients remaining from the attack and Madame Pomfrey was nowhere to be found either.

"What should we do now?" Lily asked. Sirius looked pensive and then held up his finger before turning and walking toward a girl who was in a big tub filled with some sort of potion.

"Do you know where Madame Pomfrey went?" He asked in determination. The girl shook her head.

"We could maybe go and see Dumbledore?" Tina suggested. "I mean it's worth a try." They started to head out of the Hospital Wing when Rachel stopped dead in her tracks.

"Wait a second. Dumbledore was filling in for Professor Mungoweed!" She exclaimed. The others' eyes suddenly popped wide open.

"Herbology!" They cried and set off for the greenhouses at a run.

On their arrival at Herbology, Professor Dumbledore glanced up at them, pulling his gloved hands out of a large pot, covered in a thick mud.

"How nice it is of you to join us Messrs and Misses." He said with a smile. "The students who arrived here on time are just planting their Gurdyroots if you would like to take a seat and begin to plant your own." He went to bury his arms deep within the muddy soil again, before noticing that the group weren't dispersing. Kari stepped forward and cleared her throat politely.

"Excuse me Professor, but the reason we are late is because we went to the Hospital Wing to look for our friend, Remus Lupin. He told us last night before the Quidditch match that he wasn't feeling well and that he was going to see Madame Pomfrey." Professor Dumbledore straightened up, once again withdrawing his arms from the pot, took off his gloves and beckoned for them to follow him. He stopped just outside the classroom, out of earshot of the other students.

"Mister Lupin was quite unwell. He was required to go to Hogsmeade lest he infect the other students in the Hospital Wing. He is staying at the Inn in isolation. Unfortunately his ailment is not considered St. Mungo's worthy." He stopped, bowed his head and then turned to head back into the greenhouse before the group could question him further.

"The carriages are kind of in the same direction as the Forbidden Forest." Lily reasoned, seeing the distrustful look in a couple of her friends' faces.

"Come on. We'd better get to work. We can ask Remus about it when he gets back." Peter said, ushering the group to follow Dumbledore.

Remus walked slowly up the steps to the castle front doors. Madame Pomfrey followed slightly behind him, her left hand resting comfortingly on his back. He was thankful that her potions were able to heal the majority of his injuries; at least, those visible to passersby. A deep gash ran from his lower back, around his side, almost reaching his belly button and that would take a day or two to vanish completely.

"Would you like me to assist you up the stairs, Remus?" Madame Pomfrey asked in concern for her young, and unfortunately regular, patient. He shook his head.

"No thank you, Madame. I'd best do it alone in case I see my friends, but thank you for the offer." He smiled dimly at her, before returning to his grimacing, wince at the throbbing pain in his side.

"Young Remus, your friends seem deeply concerned at your condition. I know that you fret over how they will react to your, err, problem, but perhaps you underestimate how much they care for you." She told the young boy.

"Thank you for the advice, but this is my own problem and I must be the one to bare it." Remus muttered. Madame Pomfrey looked down at the boy before her, forced to grow up at such a young age in order to cope with such a burden.

"My dear boy, you are 11 years old. No one should be forced to bare such a thing alone." She told him sincerely.

"I've been baring it alone once a month since I was four years old. There is no one there for me when I injure myself out of rage, cooped up like a wild animal. I do not see how they could possibly help and so I see no point in telling them so that they can realize what I monster I am." He said rather ruder than he intended, but Madame Pomfrey merely sighed, knowing that he was only angry because he was in pain.

"They are your friends, Remus." She tried to reason. He took a couple of steps away from Madame Pomfrey, before realizing that she was headed the opposite way to the Hospital Wing and he muttered.

"That is exactly why I cannot tell them." He continued up the stairs, alone.

"Happy birthday!" Lily, Rachel and Kari cried, sitting on Tina's bed around her as she woke up the following Thursday, 11th November. Tina rubbed her face, not quite registering what was happening as she came out of a deep sleep.

"What time is it?" She asked, her hands still covering her face. Rachel grinned at her.

"It's 6 o'clock!" She half-yelled at her friend. Tina groaned, grabbed her pillow out from under her head and stuffed it over her own face, intending to go back to sleep. "Nope, we'll have none of that, missy!" Rachel cried again, retrieving the pillow and tossing it across the room. Tina sighed and sat up in bed.

"Ok, I'm awake, satisfied?" She said, squinting as Lily opened the curtains to the window. "Geez, Lily, a little warning would be nice next time!" She scolded, shielding her eyes with her hands.

"Come on, don't be such a sad sack." Kari scolded in return. "We have a present for you! I'm afraid it's not much due to the first Hogsmeade visit being not until December, but it's a present nonetheless." Lily presented Tina with a brown paper parcel. Tina smiled and took the parcel from her outstretched arms.

"Thanks guys." Tina muttered with a smile, her eyes still squinting. She opened the paper to reveal a peacock feather quill and papier-mâché paper bound journal.

"I'm sorry that its rather school related but Lily did find a nifty charm for the quill. It dispenses multicoloured ink!" Rachel said proudly of her friend. Tina smiled and thanked each of the girls with a hug, before leaping from the bed and running for the bathroom door.

"I get the shower first! It's my birthday; didn't you know?"

Making their way from the Gryffindor Common Room, the girls heard shouting from behind them.

"Guess who?" Rachel muttered, before rolling her eyes. Whispering could be heard from behind the now closed portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Peter, I want to give it to her! I made it!" Remus' voice could be heard shouting.

"No, I should give it to her, it was my idea!" Peter exclaimed in retaliation. A loud thudding noise could be heard, followed by some cries of pain. Suddenly, the portrait swung open and Sirius stepped through the doorway, carrying a rather crumpled canvas bag. He presented it to Tina and opened his mouth to say something when he was pushed aside by James, whose glasses were askew.

"Happy birthday, Tina." James said with a grin, straightening up his glasses. Then Remus and Peter came through the portrait, dusting off their clothes. They looked up and, at the same time, saw Tina standing before them holding their present.

"Happy Birthday Tina." They said in unison, glaring at each other. Tina grinned at them.

"Thank you, boys and thanks for the present!" She said her grin widening. Tina opened the bag and pulled out a small box, quite obviously a transfigured mouse, with a tail and four little paws waggling at each corner. One side of the box even had whiskers. "I love it! Thanks!" She gave each of the boys a hug before putting the box inside her knapsack.

"Shall we go to breakfast?" Lily asked, gesturing at the staircase leading down towards the Great Hall. A couple of the other nodded in response, but the boys were mostly concentrating on glaring at each other.

Later that evening, after dinner, the group were huddled in their usual corner of the Common Room and, having finally gotten sick of watching the boys play chess, were extremely bored.

"I'm hungry." Sirius muttered. Lily rolled her eyes, looking up at him on the chair behind her from the floor at his feet.

"We only had dinner a little over an hour ago." She said with a sigh. James' eyes darted around the room guiltily from his position on the floor in front of the fire, his legs stretched out towards the flickering flames.

"I'm kind of hungry too." He admitted. Again, Lily rolled her eyes.

"It's not like we can just march on down to the Great Hall and get some more food, boys. The kitchen is closed!" She exclaimed, throwing her head back against Sirius' legs in resignation.

"That's it!" Sirius exclaimed suddenly. "There _has _to be some kitchens somewhere! I vote we try and find them." She said in excitement. Peter, James, Tina and Rachel grinned, however Remus, Lily and Kari looked rather hesitant.

"I don't think that is such a good idea. We're not allowed to leave Gryffindor Tower after dinner's finished." Kari said with reason. Remus nodded in agreement and Lily just pursed her lips.

"Come on. We won't get into trouble. I promise." James said with a grin, looking at the only three of the eight of them with any morals. After a few minutes of coaxing, and a lot of guilt-ridden remarks about doing something fun for Tina's birthday, the eight of them glanced around to ensure that the remaining people in the Common Room were otherwise occupied and one by one, slipped away and out of the portrait. Once out of the portrait, Remus had a thought.

"The kitchens must be somewhere close to the Great Hall, but they can't be above it because the First Floor is full of classroom. Plus, there are no other rooms alongside the Great Hall. I'd say our best bet is below it." He said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Smart thinking, Remus; to the dungeons it is!" Tina exclaimed. Peter grabbed her by the shoulders from behind at the same moment that Lily's hand shot out to cover Tina's mouth.

"Shush." Lily whispered harshly. Tina grimaced; her teeth bared and mouthed 'sorry'.

Slowly, they made their way down to the Entrance Hall, spookily dark and empty this late at night. Once outside the Great Hall, Tina gestured to a corridor, almost hidden behind a statue. Once inside, the group heard a voice coming up the corridor and leapt into the shadows to hide.

"Hufflepuff Common Room is secure for the night." The voice said, thinking out loud for no other voice could be heard in response. Lily thought her heart was going to pound right through her chest; she was so terrified of getting caught. Thankfully, the lady that the voice belonged to, whom neither of the students recognised in the dark kept walking straight past them all. Once she was out of earshot, the group of friends stepped out from the shadows.

"The Hufflepuff Common Room must be around here somewhere." Peter said with a grin.

"That was close, guys. We're lucky she didn't use lumos." Kari said, leaning her head back against the wall behind her with a sigh. A tiny giggle followed by a small popping noise came from behind her head and Kari almost screamed, James managing to cover her mouth with his hand just in time. He pulled Kari away from the wall with his other hand and promptly let her go to examine the wall to find out where the noise had come from. He felt along the wall and found the edge of a portrait. Running his hand along the delicate paint strokes, he felt a handle!

"Guys, there's a handle here!" He whispered rather loudly, earning him a 'shush' from a couple of his friends. James brushed them off and reached for the handle, turning it slowly to be quiet. As the portrait swung open, a warm gust of wind hit them and a fiery glow could be seen lighting up the wall inside. James beckoned for the others to follow and stepped inside. Once everyone was inside, they gently closed the portrait and turned a corner, stepping into the largest kitchen any of them had ever seen.

There were four tables mirroring the Great Hall surrounded by a long line of ovens, bench tops, fridges and smaller tables. Swarming around were hundreds of House Elves, a breed of elf which the Wizarding world had 'employed' as their maids. Almost immediately, one approached them, and eager look plastered on his miniature face.

"What can Goby do to please the Misters and Misses?" He asked, his oversized hat falling in his eyes. Each of the group looked at each other, still in awe of the magnificent room. Realizing that the elf was still awaiting a response, Sirius answered.

"Do you have any leftovers from dinner?" He answered the question with a question. The house elf named Goby nodded and promptly ran away into the crowd of house elves who were busy cleaning and some cooking what looked to be the following morning's breakfast. In a few moments, he had returned. He presented a silver tray covered with an assortment of the evening's dinner to Sirius and placed it on a low table in the corner of the kitchen next to the fire. He turned back to face them with an eager look on his face.

"Is there anything else Goby can fetch for you?" He asked pleasantly.

"Some hot chocolate would be nice." Lily suggested.

"Can we please get lots of marshmallows too?" Tina added with a grin. Goby once again nodded and disappeared.

"I could get used to this." James said with a smirk, sitting down in one of the, now eight, chairs positioned around the elf-sized table, leaning his head back on his folded arms and resting his feet on the table. Lily promptly went over to him and smacked him lightly on the legs. James winced and quickly rested his feet back on the ground.

"That's better." Lily muttered, taking a seat next to James.

A short time later, the group were sitting down at the table, now covered in dinner remains, hot and cold beverages and a small chocolate cake with a candle in the middle.

"Make a wish, Tina!" Kari said with a smile. Tina thought for a moment and then blew out the sole candle while the others cheered, rather quietly lest they get caught.

"What did you wish for?" Peter asked. Tina just smiled.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

'_I wish for many things, like the end of Lord Voldemort, more money, a new hair brush, a puppy, but mostly I wish that my friends and I have long and happy lives.'_ Tina hoped that although the smoke from the one lonely candle had long since drifted away, her wish would be heard, but only time would tell.


End file.
